MIRAMSHAH, Nov 29: Five soldiers and a major were killed and four others were wounded when a bomb planted on a road exploded in the volatile North Waziristan Agency on Thursday.

Officials said that a military convoy was proceeding from Miramshah to Bannu when a vehicle hit the bomb near Qamer checkpoint at about 9am. The wounded soldiers were taken to a military hospital in Bannu by a helicopter. Security forces cordoned off the main road for more than three hours.

On Wednesday night, troops targeted several suspected locations of militants in Miramshah tehsil of the agency. They fired artillery shells from their base in Miramshah.

Our correspondent adds from Upper Dir: Militants on Wednesday night destroyed a forest checkpost at Kalpani in Barawal, a town in the Upper Dir district bordering Afghanistan.

Two policemen were injured in the rocket attack followed by indiscriminate fire on the checkpost jointly manned by police from Upper Dir and Lower Dir districts, Levies and forest guards. The injured policemen were taken to Timergara and Barawal hospitals.

Sources said, 40 to 50 masked militants had stormed the checkpost and fired several rockets on the post.